Follow the author of this article

Follow the topics within this article

The impassioned speech Blake Leeper gives after detailing one of the most astonishing stories in sport is so powerful it almost makes you want to stand up and cheer. It is lucky the American is not a cult leader or else he would have a dangerously devoted following.

Through the adversity of being born with no legs, a decade of alcoholism – during which he somehow won two Paralympic sprint medals through “pure talent” alone – and an addiction to cocaine that saw him caught and banned from athletics for two years, everything has been building to this moment for Leeper.

Like Oscar Pistorius before him, Leeper wants to be a double amputee running at the Olympics. Unlike Pistorius – who reached the 400m semi-finals at London 2012 – Leeper could actually win a medal. He could feasibly be fast enough to challenge for gold. So his next fight is to allow the authorities to let him compete against men with two legs.

“I’m ready for this battle,” he says, speaking from his Los Angeles home in his first global interview. “I’m fighting for a whole class. I’m fighting for a whole generation. I’m fighting for a class that’s always been treated ‘less than’.

“That time is over. For people to look at people as ‘less than’ because of a disability, that’s a wrap. That’s over. I will make sure that message gets pushed across.

“You’re going to respect somebody in a wheelchair. You’re going to respect somebody missing an arm or a leg. You’re going to respect somebody with a disability.”

Leeper’s story is one with such crushing lows and unlikely highs that he cannot help but chuckle when saying it will “make an awesome movie one day”. The unknown for now is whether it ends with him making Olympic history, returning to the Paralympics, or something else entirely.

Such was the fanfare surrounding Pistorius in London six years ago that few will likely remember Leeper trailing the South African to win T43 400m silver or 200m bronze at the 2012 Paralympics.

Leeper (right) won two Paralympic medals at London 2012Credit:
getty images

At that stage, Leeper was a mere footnote to a story that would end in tragic circumstances when Pistorius was convicted of murdering his own girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. Little did anyone know as Leeper stood smiling on the podium with his Paralympic medals, but the American was masking a secret: he was an alcoholic.

His problems with drink had begun as a teenager in Tennessee and, although good enough to win Paralympic and world medals, away from training it was the same dangerous cycle: Something good happens? Drink. Something bad happens? Drink.

“I was a functional alcoholic,” he says. “So I could get things done at work, but you’re being one person in front of the camera and one person away from it.

“I was sneaking around and hiding things. Not a lot of people knew what was going on.”

Then came the moment that blew the secret open when Leeper tested positive for cocaine at the 2015 United States Paralympic Championships.

His reliance on the drug had never been as strong as it was towards alcohol – “I just have an addictive personality,” he says – but the damage had been done. Leeper was hit with a two-year suspension from the only thing that had kept him vaguely on the straight and narrow, and he lost everything. As his sponsors, who had funded his running blades, deserted him it meant he even lost his legs.

“I let so many people down and that was the hardest bit,” he said. “My grandmother went to the London Paralympics and had the time of her life. She came back and said she was going to Rio [in 2016] so I promised we would go.

“Unfortunately I didn’t get to go so I promised her we’d go to Tokyo but she ended up getting cancer and passed away a year ago.

“That was one of the hardest things for me. That hurts. I didn’t get to make her wish come true because of my selfishness and foolishness.”

Yet it was the heaviest gloom that sparked the decision to turn his life around.

“That was one of the lowest, darkest, strongest points in my life,” he says. “It was my moment of clarity – my rock-bottom moment. It saved my life.

“That was a turning point in my life where I started seeing my goal. I had to learn to channel my addictive personality and put that energy into something good. Instead of alcohol, let’s put another session in. Instead of getting high, let’s go run and train harder. Get high off that.

“These past three years I have dedicated myself to becoming one of the fastest runners in the world with legs or no legs. I’m not there yet, but I’m getting close.”

Now three years clean of drink and drugs, Leeper, 29, is reaping the benefits of his new determination and went far beyond any double amputee in history when he clocked 44.42 seconds over 400m at a race in the Czech Republic earlier this summer, destroying his able-bodied rivals including triple world indoor champion Pavel Maslak. It was a time fast enough to make every American Olympic team in history and quicker than any able-bodied British sprinter for two decades.

But such speed has proven controversial. Despite his status as the fastest ever double amputee – significantly quicker than Pistorius – Leeper is not an official world record holder and is currently unable to compete at either the World Championships or World Para Athletics Championships next year.

Y’all know how long I’ve been waiting to hear this number...44.42!!!!! Obviously just the beginning but couldn’t have gotten to this point without all of the support from everyone who believes in this vision 🙏🏿🙌🏿 Headed home with another dub and another world record!!! pic.twitter.com/isOae1NY2v

For the latter, he would need to go through re-classification after rules imposed at the start of this year changed the formula for maximum standing height. Leeper himself admits his current blades are too long and would not pass the test, but he claims the rules are unfair towards amputee runners.

In any case, he is more intent on running against able-bodied athletes at the Olympics and this autumn underwent a series of gruelling tests at the University of Colorado to try and convince the sport’s governing body, the IAAF, to allow him to be treated as an equal. It is a difficult – potentially impossible – assignment.

Whereas Pistorius was allowed to run at the Olympics because the governing body could not prove his blades gave him an advantage, a rule tweak means it now falls to Leeper to prove he does not have an advantage. Proving a negative is no easy task, but his determination is boundless.

“They are saying the man with no legs is too fast,” he says. “They are saying I have an unfair advantage. So that's motivation for me to push the barriers.

“We’re talking about a finalist or medallist. That’s where we’re at. Isn’t that exciting? We’re finally here. We’ve reached the top of the mountain and we’re getting turned away.”

No one, least of all Leeper, knows where this journey goes next. With his future in the hands of others, he continues doing what he can by working hard and spreading his message. In his eyes, this is all much bigger than just one person.